Streaming services are responsible for presenting users with a high quality video experience. It can be difficult for streaming services to determine what kind of experience is actually being delivered because once the streamed content leaves the service provider's servers/network, the streaming service provider may not be in control of the stream. That is, the streaming provider may hand off the content stream to other networks that deliver the content stream on behalf of the streaming provider.
Additionally, the streaming provider cannot always control the device that is used to receive and display the streaming content. The receiving and display device can have a significant impact on the user's experience with regard to the streaming content. Systems that analyze the content on the video card do not always reflect the same experience that a user of the streaming display system observes, for various reasons. Information captured internally to the client device may not be characteristic of the human experience of the displayed content. Even when a streaming provider requires a particular application or particular configurations on the receiving device, many other factors may influence the customer's perceived video experience, sometimes in a negative way. However, the streaming provider may not have a way to know what the user's streaming experience is, other than to ask the user for feedback. Users may be subjective or may not have the expertise to explain their streaming experience in such a way that provides useful feedback that can be used to improve the system.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.